PAPER D
|
CO-ORDINATING COMMITTEE - 8 JULY 2004 CALL-IN TOOLKIT HEAD OF SELECT
COMMITTEE AND BEST VALUE SUPPORT |
REASON FOR
CONSIDERATION
To adopt the guidance notes in respect of call-ins as the first part of
the Council’s Scrutiny Toolkit.
|
ACTION REQUIRED BY THE SELECT COMMITTEE To adopt the Guidance on the Call-In Process. To recommend to Full Council that the number of members of a Select
Committee required to activate a Call-In be set at 3. |
BACKGROUND
At the Co-ordinating Committee on 11 March 2004 consideration was given
to the process involved with Call-Ins.
A pro-forma was adopted and the Monitoring Officer was requested to
issue written guidance on the interpretation on each criteria.
Attached as an Appendix to this report is a guidance pack designed for
both members and officers on the Call-In process. This has been done in conjunction with the Monitoring Officer.
Whilst the Council agreed to the recommendations of the Co-ordinating
Committee to reduce the size of Select Committees to 9, with a quorum of 3, the
number of members required to activate a Call-In has not yet formally been
reviewed to take into account proportionality.
This therefore is still set at 4.
I am aware that in reducing the size of Select Committees to 9, members
were of the opinion that the number required for a Call-In should be set at a
level where it can be activated by the number of members from the other
groups. Taking into account the new
proportionality of Select Committees the number could be reduced from 4 to
3. Other options would be 2 but this is
perhaps too low, 4 would require all party support or 5, which would perhaps be
impossible for a Call-In to be activated.
FINANCIAL, LEGAL,
CRIME AND DISORDER IMPLICATIONS
There are no financial or crime and disorder implications arising from
the adoption of the Toolkit.
Whilst the Local Government Act 2000 does not stipulate precise
arrangements for a call-in mechanism the Department of Environment, Transport
and the Regions issued a guidance pack linked in with the new arrangements. In
Chapter 3, Overview and Scrutiny under Executive Arrangements, paragraphs 3.83
and 3.84 state :-
3.83 Local authorities should ensure that the executive arrangements
ensure that any call-in procedure is not abused or used unduly to delay
decisions or slow down the process of decision making. In particular the
executive will, from time to time, need to take decisions which need to be
implemented quickly. Local authorities will need to develop local conventions
and protocols to prevent abuse of an overview and scrutiny committee’s power to
recommend that a decision made, but not yet implemented, be reconsidered. Local
authorities should keep the operation of any call-in arrangements under review
to ensure that they are not abused with an associated negative effect on the
efficiency of executive decision making.
3.84 A safeguard which could be adopted in the executive arrangements
could be to include provision requiring a certain number of committee (or local
authority) members to call in a particular decision.
APPENDICES
ATTACHED
Guidance
on the Call-In Process.
Agenda
and minutes of the Co-ordinating Committee 11 March 2004.
DETR
New Council Constitutions Guidance Pack Volume 1
Contact Point :Paul Thistlewood, ( 823285, e-mail paul.thistlewood@iow.gov.uk.